Application Analysis
Description
In thinking about the way we use new media technology, it is important to consider not simply how that technology is used, but also how it is designed, and how our uses for the technology (games we play, social networks we engage with, apps we have send us notifications) are shaped by the way specific platform infrastructures (gaming consoles, mobile phones, operating systems) function.
Purpose
It is important to consider not simply how technology is used but also how it is designed.
Tasks with Directions
The goal of the assignment is to push you to think critically about the affordances of a given platform and the way they influence the development of applications on that platform.
Step One: Choosing a specific “application” (etc.) to analyze. This could include a mobile application (Facebook, Snapchat, Tinder, Pinterest, etc.) or a game (iOS, Android, console, handheld, etc.).
Step Two: Identifying the platform affordances behind the “Application.” This includes the affordances (touch screen, GPS, gyroscopes, controllers, cameras, etc.) of the hardware used to access the application as well as the operating system on that hardware (iOS, Android, etc.).
Centra
Why would users of a particular platform choose to engage with this specific application? How do we interface with the application, and how is that influenced by affordances of the platform it’s built on?
What does the application allow you to actually do, in terms of “form and function”?
How do the affordances of the platform make this possible?
Would you consider this “application” a creative and/or productive use of its platform? Why or why not?
Requirements:
2-3 full pages double-spaced (1” margins, 12pt font)
An engagement with the “five levels of digital media” as outlined by Bogost and Montfort (Reception/Operation, Interface, Form and Function, Code, and Platform)
A clear thesis addressing the final of the central questions
Last Completed Projects
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